Greybeards Gripes

Anyone reading this blog regularly understands that I’m not happy with Obama as President.   There are many reasons,  but the ones that hit home the hardest are some of the biggest.

Obama makes a big deal of spouting off about how everyone will have health insurance.  Well let’s look a how he’s doing.      A few months back, we heard that our vision and dental coverage were going away,   and every couple of weeks,  our medical Co-pay goes up.  Now our drug Co-pays have doubled,  and many drugs,  and treatments are no longer covered.

You ask;   Where does Obama come into this?

Answer, in todays letter from the UAW detailing the retiree’s health coverage losses:

I quote the letter:  “the membership recently ratified Modifications to the 2007 UAW General Motors Agreement, and an addendum to the agreement estatblishing the VEBA Trust for retiree health care that met the terms of the loan agreement IMPOSED by the GOVERNMENT”.

“In the terms of the loan agreement, modification were required by the government, which will impact the General Motors retiree health care plan”.

Out of one side of his mouth,  he say’s he’s going to get “the people” good affordable health care.  Out of the other side,  he takes a big bite out of MY health care!!!

NOTE:  I do not hold the UAW without fault in this.  As stated before,  it’s a very poor organization (and government) that throws it elders,  (white collar and blue) to the wolves to insure themselves a bit of comfort.   And since the UAW pushed so hard to get Obama elected,   I hold them equally responsible.

I’ve been hosting a couple of young grandkids over the past few days and the wind has been up a bit,  so no “real time” fishing report.  But,  from what I’ve heard “over the fence”,  the Walleye are still out there.   Hope to make a run soon.

I took a bit of the downtime to pull the SportCraft out of the water.   There was a loose mounting bolt on the anchor pulpit that needed fixing,  and it needed a good bottom washing.   (I was starting to notice a decrease in cruising speed,  and the fish finder was acting up).  I replaced all the pulpit bolts with the next size larger and washed the bottom with muratic acid (and the powerwasher).   The muratic,  did a pretty fair job,  but not quite as good as the Mary Kate’s “On and Off”,  that I used last fall.

At any rate,  the bottom is now pretty clean again,  and the fishfinder’s transducer is spotless.   If the problems with the FF continue,  I suppose it will be time for a replacement.   Color or Black and White??    

Four of us spent Saturday and Sunday (20th and 21st of June) on Saginaw Bay, Walleye fishing.   Saturday brought us 14 nice sized Walleye and lead up to a great fishfry Saturday night.   Sunday we came up just short of our legal limits.  18 good sized fish,  and one huge fish.  (27.5 inches)  I was the one lucky enough to get to pull in the big guy,,,  and whom ever say’s Walleye don’t fight,  has never pulled a big one in from 100 ft or so.  Our “catch and release program” included one baby Walleye,  one good sized Sheeps Head,  and three nice sized CatFish.  Our “fishlost group” included 4 or 5 nice sized Walleye,  who were able to slip the hooks before getting netted.

The weather was good,  and the whole experience made for a great weekend.    The SportCraft performed flawlessly,  (other that a few glitches with the fishfinder).  We wound up running with the trolling plate down and one 50″ drift sock running off the port side.   That got us to near 1 mph,  and we trolled exclusively,  crawler harnesses,  50 to 65 feet behind the boat,  in 36 to 40 ft of water.  Six “Offshore” planer boards and two bottom bouncers.

I spent a good part of yesterday afternoon,  cleaning the carnage off the fishing deck and washing the boat.  The weather looks good for the next few days,  and hopefully we’ll get another good run in before life events pull me away from the fishery.

This photo shows Sunday’s catch and one (previously) broken foot belonging to one of the fishermen.

Good fishin’ Ya’ll!

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a proposed rule change that directly targets the importation of “assisted opening” folding knives.

Proposed rule change “here”.

Here again,  we have an instance of a government agency wishing to take away another right on the grounds of protecting us.   To protect me,  they would like to outlaw a tool I’ve carried everyday for the last 30 years.  A tool that has saved me from possible amputation at least once or twice,  and eases my daily tasks at least one or twice a day.

A one handed opening knife is the very good friend of the working man.   Get a sleeve caught in some rigging,  pull  and open the knife with the other hand,  and cut the sleeve.   Any number of work accidents in progress can be stopped by flipping open a knife with one hand and cutting yourself free.  

Are these idiots so insulated from reality that they don’t understand this absolute Truth?

We just returned from an extended family camping trip to Mio’s Oscoda County Park,  located just above the Mio Dam, on the AuSable River.  I believe it was the first time we’ve ever camped more than one day,  without getting hit by a nasty thunderstorm.   We had cool sunny day’s and cold nights all the while,  excepting one night of light rain.   Some fish were caught,  some beer and wine were drank,  good food was prepared and eaten,  and Roxie, (my little German Shorthair) got to run her legs nearly off on a daily basis.   A good time was had by all. 

Since,  here,  near the middle of June,  our furnace still runs on a near daily basis,  when we go to bed,  I turn the thermostat down to about 58 degree’s.   Last night,  at Midnight,  I was awoken by the furnace kicking on.   Getting up to investigate,  I noted that the temperature in the house was 56 degrees and the outside temp. was 48 degrees.  Yesterday’s high was 52 degrees.    IN THE MIDDLE OF JUNE!  Today we’re seeing 53 degrees with lots of wind and rain.

That’s the way the weather has been going this year.  From an extremely cold winter,  to a cold spring,  and now a very cold early summer.  Note the key word “COLD“.